Osku Palermaa (born 18 November 1983 in

Espoo Espoo (, ; ) is a city in Finland. It is located to the west of the capital, Helsinki, in southern Uusimaa. The population is approximately . It is the most populous Municipalities of Finland, municipality in Finland. Espoo is part of the Helsi ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

) is a Finnish ten-pin bowler now living in Partille,

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. He is a competitor on the European Bowling Tour, World Bowling Tour, and

PBA Tour The PBA Tour is the major professional tour for tenpin bowling, operated by the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA). Headquartered in Mechanicsville, Virginia, over 3,000 members worldwide make up the PBA. While most of the PBA members are Reg ...

Today

Palermaa has 18 professional bowling titles to his name. He has won 13 EBT titles, and 5

titles. He was the EBT ranking champion for three consecutive years from 2007 to 2009, he also won the rankings 2011. Palermaa was also joint runner up in the 2005 EBT rankings, and runner up in the 2006 EBT rankings. Osku made his television debut at the 2004 U.S Open, making him the first two-handed bowler to compete in a televised PBA Tour event. He won his first U.S.

title at the 2010

Geico The Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO ) is an American vehicle insurance company headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland. In addition to auto insurance, GEICO provides motorcycle, ATV, RV, boat, snowmobile, travel, pet, event, hom ...

Shark Championship, which was part of the PBA World Series of Bowling in

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

. Palermaa has since won four more PBA Tour titles, including the 2011

PBA World Championship The PBA World Championship is one of five major PBA (Professional Bowlers Association) Ten-pin bowling, bowling events. It is one of three PBA Tour major events that are open only to PBA members. (The U.S. Open (bowling), U.S. Open and USBC Masters ...

which made him the first two-handed bowler to win a major. Palermaa has to date bowled 78 perfect games, including five in PBA Tour events. Palermaa was captain of the European team for the

Weber Cup The Weber Cup, named after professional ten-pin bowler Dick Weber, is a men's ten-pin bowling competition between Team Europe and Team USA. It is often referred to as "bowling's equivalent of golf's Ryder Cup". Each year, a team of five from t ...

from 2008 to 2012.

Achievements

2006

Palermaa won the bronze medal at the World Ranking Masters tournament. Palermaa won the

2006 AMF World Cup 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics A six-sided polygon is a hexagon, one of the three regular polygons capable of tiling the plane. A hexagon a ...

, defeating Norway's Petter Hansen 2 games to 1 in the final. Palermaa averaged over 250 in the qualifying rounds (24 games), bowling 2 perfect games in the process. Palermaa was voted the 'Bowler Of The Year' by the industry writers, and was also voted 'Bowler Of The Year' in his native

, and 'Athlete Of The Year' in his home town,

2007

In April, Palermaa was invited for the first time to participate in the World Tenpin Masters tournament, held at the Barnsley Metrodome. Palermaa beat

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

's Guy Caminsky in the first round (464-438), before losing to the 2006 champion, American PBA bowler Chris Barnes in the quarter-final (490-467). Following this, Palermaa travelled to

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

for the 4th

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open, and was victorious, defeating fellow two-handed bowler

Jason Belmonte Jason Belmonte (born 29 July 1983) is an Australian professional ten-pin bowling, ten-pin bowler. He plays on the PBA Tour in the United States and in world events. He is known for being one of the first bowlers to gain media attention for usi ...

from

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in the single-game final (258-195). This win, his 5th on the European Bowling Tour and his 2nd in 2007, put him on top of the 2007 EBT rankings, narrowly ahead of 3-time EBT ranking champion,

Paul Moor Paul Moor (born 3 September 1978), of Kingston-upon-Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England is one of the world's leading Ten-pin bowling, ten-pin bowlers. He bowls on the European Bowling Tour (EBT) and has been a member of the Professional Bow ...

from

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Palermaa participated in the 2007 World Ranking Mastersbr>
at the Kegel Training Centre, Lake Wales,

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

, and finished the 24 game qualifier as the number 1 seed, with an average of 241.58. He was then defeated in the quarter-finals by Thomas Gross of

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

2-0 (196-265, 203-207). Palermaa finished in 5th position. Palermaa has been voted Finnish 'Bowler of the Year' 2008 - 2009.

International tournament titles

2005 Super Series Tour Championships Champion 2008 European Ranking Masters Super Six Gothenburg 2009 World Ranking Masters Super Six Super Star 2010 Dubai International

European Bowling Tour titles

2005 III Catalonia Open - Trofeu Galasa Columbia 300 Vienna Open 2006 Kungsbacka International Tournament 2007 Brunswick Euro Challenge 4th Istanbul Bowling Open 2008 Brunswick Aalborg International Ebonite Lahti Open 2009 Hammer Bronzen Schietspoel Tournament

PBA Tour titles

2010 Won the

Shark Championship at the PBA World Series of Bowling in

(USA) on November 6, 2010. 2011 Won the

in Las Vegas, NV on November 18, 2011.Vint, Bill. "Finland’s Osku Palermaa Becomes First International Player to Win PBA World Championship, First Two-Hander to Win PBA Major Title." Article at www.pba.com on January 15, 2012

/ref> This was his second PBA Tour title and first PBA major. 2013 Won the WBT

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

Open on March 10, 2013 for his third PBA Tour title. 2014 Won the WBT

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

Open on August 28, 2014; his fourth PBA Tour title. 2015 Won the WBT Bowling World Open in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

on July 12, 2015; his fifth PBA Tour title.

Miscellaneous

*Palermaa is one of few bowlers at the professional level to use two different styles in regular play. Although he primarily uses the two handed "shovel" style, which gives him a high RPM (revolutions per minute) rate, he also employs a conventional one-handed style for certain situations. Palermaa is oftentimes regarded as the "world's strongest bowler" given that his ball speed exceeds most pros by nearly 10 miles per hour at times.

References

External links

Industry profile of Osku Palermaa

Osku's Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Palermaa, Osku Living people 1983 births Finnish ten-pin bowling players World Games gold medalists for Finland World Games medalists in bowling Competitors at the 2017 World Games Sportspeople from Espoo Finnish expatriates in Sweden Medalists at the 2013 World Games